Separately, a Bloomberg poll says Americans believe by a 2-to-1 majority that the election results were an endorsement of Obama’s promise to protect Medicare and Social Security benefits—and nearly half the Republicans surveyed say he has a mandate to raise taxes on the wealthy.

Since a central issue in the rhetorical war between the two men, who spoke again by phone on Tuesday, is the president’s push to raise taxes on families earning more than $250,000, the obvious conclusion is that Obama has the public on his side.

But what does that mean? In a campaign, those kinds of numbers would herald a big victory at the ballot box. But the only voters that count this time are 535 members of Congress.

Obviously, Obama can ratchet up pressure on the Republicans, who are already at a tactical disadvantage because the automatic nature of the tax hikes if nothing is done by Dec. 31, by rallying public opinion to his side. But most of Boehner's troops were elected in safe GOP districts that voted for Mitt Romney. The president is still likely to prevail, but whether that happens before or after the country slides over the much-ballyhooed cliff is anyone's guess at this point.